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When a ship is wrecked, there is sometimes hope of escape; some friendly sail may opportunely heave in sight; the broken hull, dismantled and dismasted, may yet bear up against the storm; or the crew in the crisis of their danger, some by swimming, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, may get safe to land; but the wreck of a soul is nothing less than helpless, endless, irrevocable ruin.

No wreck, where angry Ocean's billows roll,
Is like the wreck and ruin of a soul.

It was long before I left the beach, and when I did so, the ocean waves were still dashing against the stranded hull of the broken vessel, fastened, as it was, to the shore with a chain cable. Sobered and solemnized by the mournful spectacle, I walked away in musing meditation. "What is man unless preserved by his Almighty Maker? At sea and on land he is in equal danger. Be thou my stay, O Lord, in every storm, that my faith may not suffer shipwreck. Give me grace so to love and trust thee,

That my soul in her need when the tempest is nigh, May escape to the Rock that is higher than I.'”

THE HEATH-FLOWER.

AND dost thou ask me why I wear
A heath-flower in this breast of care;
And idly gaze thereon and sigh ?
Oh! there is hope in its purple dye:
It carries withal a form that's fair,
A healthy look and a cheerful air;
A sweeter scent and a brighter glow,
Than loveliest rose could ever throw.

Dim and distant is now the hour
When Beauty pluck'd the desert flower;
Pluck'd it with all its wild perfume,
And bade it in my bosom bloom;
And since that season, it bears a spell,
And I have loved it passing well;
And strangely has it blended been
With every past and sunny scene.
Nor does it speak of joy alone,
Of warbled airs and music flown;
Nor rising suns, nor moonlit beams,
Nor laughing hours, and golden dreams,
With all the dear delights that start
And crowd around the exulting heart;
Nor of Beauty's voice, nor water's fall,
But the wild witchery of them all.

And it breathes of other things to me;
Of mountain air, and of liberty;

Of tower and tree by lightning riven;
The storm and the warring wind of heaven.
Of mossy cairn and cromlech grey,
And maddening sounds of feud and fray;
Of stern contention, hope forlorn,
And banner rent, and tartan torn.

And there be deeper thoughts that dwell
Around it, that I may not tell;
Things that, alas! I cannot bear
To think upon without a tear.

Yes! there are bygone thoughts that dress
Its bonnie leaf with loveliness;

That cluster round its purple crest,

And bind it to my aching breast.

Come loveliest flower that glads the plain,
I'll plant thee in my breast again,
And thou shalt be in grief and tears,
The symbol of departed years;
Recalling back, amid the blast,
The sunny seasons of the past;
Though they be lost to this poor heart,
Yet memory with them cannot part.

Oh, there is a joy of the bosom given,
That smiles like thee on earth and heaven;
Exulting still mid spring and fall,

Blooming and blossoming through them all.

And there is a desolate state on earth
Drear as the heath that gave thee birth,
What time the lightning finds it fair,
And leaves it blasted, bleak, and bare.

There may be one upon earth like me,
Who loves this flower of sympathy;

To him it tells of a distant day,

Of dreams that were, and have passed away;
But none may know the thoughts that fly,
Nor the wayward, wild idolatry

That rushes through my heart of care,
When this same floweret blossoms there.

Be near my heart, thou little flower,
But live not in my mortal hour,

What time these eyes, in slumber deep,
Shall sleep their everlasting sleep:

For I may not mingle, when death is given,
The dream of earth with the hope of heaven;
Nor sink to my eternal rest,

A heath-flower withering on my breast,

WHAT ARE YOUR POINTS?

IT has been said that every man has a "strong corner," the meaning of which expression is, that every man has a particular point or quality which in some degree distinguishes him from others; or that he has a hidden strength which circumstances alone make manifest. Whether this be true or not generally, it certainly is occasionally so in individual cases.

The different points, or prominent qualities among mankind are well worthy of our best attention, that we may emulate the good and avoid the evil. The humble and teachable pick up many a lesson, that the proud and opinionated pass by, or despise.

One man has faith, so that he looks up to his heavenly Father with such unbroken and un shaken trust, that come what will, he is never stricken down. Others are stopped in their course by molehills, but he removes mountains of difficulty, and never so much as doubts the attainment of his object. He seems to take as his motto the text, "The Lord God will help

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